Alderholt gutter cleaning, cleared or replaced
There is no conservation area over the village, so on most houses a run that genuinely cannot cope is yours to change. We will tell you which you need.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Last updated
Clearing is the right answer most of the time. It is not the right answer when a gutter is simply too small, too flat or too old for the roof above it, and a proper clear is the cheapest way to find out which of those you have.
An Alderholt gutter left for a few years starts to let water over somewhere each autumn, and a proper clear sorts that out. The case that matters more is a run cleared twice already that still overflows in every heavy shower, with nobody explaining why. If yours is spilling over in a downpour as you read this, ring 07435 839745 and tell us whether it comes over at one spot or all along the run.
So the visit answers both. Every run cleared out by hand, the outlets picked clear, water put through each downpipe until it runs out at the shoe, and then a straight opinion on whether what you have is a maintenance problem or a system that has come to the end of its life. The site visit and the written itemised quote are free, and clearing and any repair are always shown as separate lines.
The work
Clearing, proving, and knowing when to stop clearing
Clearing first, then an honest answer about whether clearing is enough. Emptying and proving the system. Debris out by hand into a bag rather than flushed along the run, because a flush through a full gutter packs the outlet.
Then every outlet is picked clear, water goes in at the far end of each length and we watch it come out at the shoe. Where a downpipe disappears into a gully or a soakaway we check it is taking water rather than backing up at ground level, because that looks exactly like a blocked gutter from an upstairs window.
Plastic that has done its thirty years. A good deal of the housing in Alderholt went up in the nineteen eighties, and the half round plastic gutter fitted then is now well past its best. Sunlight makes it brittle, the union seals harden and stop sealing, and the brackets lose their grip so a length bows between them. You can spot it from the ground: a run with a sag in the middle, a joint with a white bloom of limescale under it, and a downpipe clipped back to the wall in three different colours of fitting.
Repairs that are worth doing. A weeping joint gets a new union seal. A cracked shoe or a missing bracket is a ten minute fix while somebody is already up there. None of that is clearing, so it appears on its own line.
When the run is the problem. A length that has lost its fall, or a shallow half round gutter too small for a long slope, will overflow however clean it is, and re-hanging or replacing it is gutter repair and replacement in Alderholt, a separate job.
What the overflow has already reached. Fascia, soffit and then the brickwork or render below. Green staining, damp showing on an inside wall and soft timber behind the gutter all get photographed while the access is there, because they date the problem better than anybody's memory does.
How it runs
Clearing the gutters and proving every downpipe runs
Thomas comes to look at the gutters, the downpipes and the trees near them, and writes the price himself. You get the access, the total length, the number of outlets and downpipes, any repairs and the disposal of what comes out, each as a separate item. Clearing and any small repair come under that one quote.
Most Alderholt houses can be reached from the drive or the lawn. Bungalow gutters come off a ladder or are cleared with a long pole from the ground. A two storey house may need a tower, and a valley between two roofs needs a proper platform. The muck is lifted out by hand and bagged, and each downpipe then gets a flush of water so you can watch it run clear. The bags go away with us.
Where a joint drips or a bracket has let go, Thomas photographs it and quotes it, and it is only fixed if you agree. Clearing needs no permission, and like for like rainwater goods are repair, which Planning Portal guidance leaves alone. Any new or altered drainage comes under Approved Document H, and a downpipe emptying beside a foundation keeps the ground there wet. There is no conservation area in Alderholt, but the village does have listed buildings, the Church of St James among them, and Dorset Council is the authority.
How often an Alderholt gutter needs doing depends on what overhangs it. Under oak and birch an annual clear after the leaves come down is about right, with a spring look at the outlets where silt and sludge settle. How long it takes turns on the length of run and whether a reach pole will do or the back needs a scaffold.
Cost
A metre of gutter behind a conifer is a slower metre
We do not charge gutter cleaning by the metre, because the length is rarely what takes the time. Trees and hedges. A plot with conifers or a big tree close to the house fills its gutters with needles and leaves every autumn, while an open garden may go years between cleans.
The roof above. Concrete tiles on the eighties houses in Alderholt grow moss, and every storm washes some down. In the gutter it sets into a dense, wet mat that has to be dug out rather than scooped, and it packs hardest at the outlets.
Reaching it. A bungalow is the quickest. A garage run, a chalet with a dormer breaking the eaves, or a valley gutter between two roofs slows things down, and HSE guidance decides whether a ladder, a pole or a tower is right.
Repairs. A dripping joint, a downpipe choked at the shoe, or a plastic length sagging between brackets is extra work, and it is what stretches an hour into half a day.
Ask anyone else whether they rod the downpipes or only scoop the gutter, whether the hoppers are checked, and where the waste goes.
If it is overflowing now
Water pouring over the gutter in a downpour
When an Alderholt gutter overflows in a downpour, the water runs down the wall and soaks the brickwork, and it can find an inside wall surprisingly quickly. Watch where it spills. At a single point it is usually a blocked outlet, and all along the run it is more likely a gutter that has dropped out of level.
Please do not lean a ladder on a plastic gutter. We clear the blockage, pour water through to prove it runs, and tell you honestly if a joint has failed. If your Alderholt gutter was cleaned this year and is overflowing again, tell us, because that changes what we look for. Our booked work is Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm. Phone about an overflow rather than using the form. If we cannot take the call there and then, we ring you back once someone is free.
Worth knowing
Two clears and still overflowing
Clearing never needs anyone's approval. Alderholt has no conservation area, though it does have a few listed buildings, so if your house is an old one, check the Historic England list for your own address before anything on the eaves is altered.
The pattern to watch is a run that overflows every winter after two proper cleans. A third clean will not cure that. On the visit we fill the run with water and watch where it stands and where it spills, so you know whether it is silt in an outlet or a gutter that cannot carry what the roof sends it.
Who you are dealing with
Who clears your gutters, checked in a minute
Alderholt sits 12.5 miles from our Boscombe base, and for gutter cleaning we cover the village along with Daggons and Cripplestyle, and out to Sandleheath, Fordingbridge and Verwood. Your council is Dorset Council.
We are Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, so you can check us before anybody climbs a ladder. This is Thomas Hannen's business, and Thomas comes round to see the gutters and prices the work himself. A verified customer has given us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. Both the visit and the written quote, listed item by item, are free. Before you book a visit in Alderholt, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Alderholt?
Most repairs in Alderholt need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.
| Question | In Alderholt |
|---|---|
| Who decides | Dorset Council is the planning authority for Alderholt. Dorset Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | None covers Alderholt, so a like-for-like repair is ordinary maintenance. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, Alderholt has listed buildings. If yours is one, or stands in the grounds of one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Alderholt. |
Questions
Questions about gutter cleaning in Alderholt
The gutters were cleared twice and still overflow. What now?
Then it is not a debris problem. Either the run has lost its fall and is holding water, or the gutter is undersized for the roof above it. Both are visible once somebody is up there with water running, and both are fixable. Clearing it a third time is not the answer.
Our plastic gutter is thirty years old. Is clearing it still worth it?
Yes, and the clear is when you find out how tired it is. Plastic of that age goes brittle in sunlight, the union seals harden and the brackets let go. A couple of seals we do on the day. If the whole run is going, we say so plainly and price it as a separate job.
Do we need permission to have the gutters cleared?
No, clearing and like for like repairs are maintenance. There is no conservation area over Alderholt, but a listed house is different, so check the Historic England list if yours is old. Altering the drainage the downpipes run into is covered by the building regulations.
Our downpipe goes into the ground. How do we know that is clear?
By putting water down it and watching. If the level rises at the shoe or comes back up at the gully, the problem is below ground rather than in the gutter, and we will tell you that instead of clearing the run again.
Do you take the debris away?
Yes. Whatever comes out of the gutters goes into bags and leaves with us, and the ground under the ladder is swept before we go. It is itemised on the quote as disposal, so you see it up front.
Nearby, and next door
Gutter cleaning near Alderholt
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Find out whether it needs clearing or changing
We come out, clear and prove every run, then send a written itemised quote with clearing, repair and replacement priced separately. Free.